Winter swimmers swim in the East Lake. Photographed by Ma Shengqiang

During the Spring Festival, the east lake ice rink has become a good place for citizens to spend their holidays. Photo by Zhang Jie

Citizens enjoy the snow in the ski resort. Photographed by Li Wei

        More than 10 winter swimmers opened the 30cm thick ice layer of the East Lake to welcome the new year and the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Qi Xinya, who is 88 years old this year, has participated in winter swimming for 15 consecutive years and is known as the "first person in Jiayuguan winter swimming".

        On that day, the minimum temperature in Jiayuguan reached minus 15 ℃ and the maximum temperature was close to 0 ℃. There are many ice cubes in the water in the newly broken lane, and the water temperature is close to 0 ℃. After simple adaptation and preparation activities, winter swimmers jump into the cold lake. Freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and even diving attracted many citizens to watch. Everyone was impressed by the tenacious perseverance of winter swimmers.